Drivers in Houston got a nasty surprise when they launched off a piece of asphalt that appears to have unintentionally created a ramp next to a construction zone
August 8, 2023 at 19:08
If you’ve ever watched the Dukes of Hazzard and thought, I wonder what kind of damage that jump would do to a car, be thankful you don’t live in Houston, where drivers are finding out first hand.
Road construction in the Texas city appears to have caused the asphalt to buckle in such a way that a ramp was created. In a video shared to Instagram by user @speedhouston, the unfortunate consequences of the anomaly can be seen from the comfort of whatever screen you’re looking at.
The unintended ramp is located in the middle of an intersection, catching many drivers off guard. Found next to a construction zone, the ramp appears to have been caused by efforts to tear up the surface of the street.
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It’s hard to see clearly, but it appears that the road simply has an upward bend and a sudden drop-off. That would be hard enough to see during the day, but seems to be nearly invisible at night, which may explain why so many drivers are being launched off of it.
Apparently unintentional, it’s a mystery why roadworks crews didn’t put up clearer warnings for drivers. Based on how many cars are scraping the ground hard enough to cause sparks and likely more damage, I’d be pretty worried about litigious drivers if I was the foreperson or a city representative.
To make matters worse, the only driver in this video who seems to get through the intersection without suffering damage only does so by slowing to a crawl. Even the drivers who do notice it and slow down experience a pretty nasty bump.
While some commentors on the video blame the drivers for going too fast through a construction zone, I would suggest that it behooves a city not to leave ramps in its streets big enough for them Duke boys to get at it again.